Most city councils deliberate before empty chairs but not in Oak Harbor

At issue was a local law prohibiting guns in public parks, when Oak Harbor resident Luke Yonkman came to the mic and acknowledged he was legally carrying a concealed weapon. At that point, Councilman Rick Almberg objected.

“I make a motion that we ask them to check their weapon with the police.”

When his motion failed, the councilman left the chamber, and the latest viral gun rights video was born.

Which guaranteed that at the next meeting a lot of people would show up with their pistols not concealed but openly strapped to the hip.

Everyone was very polite, both pro-gun.

“Mr. Almberg,” started one man, “I just want you to know – I have a concealed ham sandwich right here. I don’t want you to get up and walk away.”

Although there was one flash of anger when one man said, “Sir, my mother was a Jew. My family went to the chambers. I will not go quietly while these too ask me to board the train.”

Gutsy thing to say – considering Oak Harbor is home to a Navy base, and he’s implying the troops might one day show up in Nazi uniforms.

But as Thomas Jefferson, a man who loved guns, famously said “… what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance.”

We will just have to find a compromise. We will have to protect the rights of regular people who want military weapons in case the soldiers that we now thank for their service one day become Nazis – without also making guns available to people who are unbalanced.